Something to Die For by Kaye Blue

Thirty-Six

Angel

I don’t knowhow long we sat in the dark storage shed, but I was content.

Lucas was with me, and that was what mattered.

I’d been worried that something would happen, had almost expected it, and now that it had, I was almost calm.

Eerily so.

At the very least, there was a clarity that had been missing in other areas of my life. The task now was simple: get out of this place with Lucas as fast as we could.

Nothing else mattered, and that meant all I needed to do was focus on that, be ready when our opportunity came.

“You hear that?” Lucas whispered.

“Yeah,” I said, my voice barely above a whisper.

It was the sound of approaching footsteps.

Apparently, our reckoning was upon us.

I listened as the lock disengaged and the door swung open.

Blinked rapidly with the new light.

“This way,” a man said.

I didn’t recognize him, but when I stepped out and gave myself a few seconds to adjust to the sun, I saw the man who had put us in.

From the look of things, we’d been there for several hours. It was almost dusk, so we’d lost a day.

“Someone wants to see you,” he said.

I said nothing, and neither did Lucas.

Instead, we followed as the man turned on a heel and walked toward the mobile home farthest away from these buildings.

I guessed these guys were military, but I didn’t know for sure.

What I did know was that I didn’t like the way things looked.

It was too quiet, too calm.

There was an undercurrent of something here, and I would need to be on guard.

I didn’t risk looking at Lucas, our earlier conversation in mind. I wouldn’t leave this place without him, but there was no reason to give that away.

We had little leverage, but what we did have we wanted to keep, and that meant giving away as little as possible.

So I didn’t look at him, didn’t even acknowledge him as we walked.

The guy who led us banged on the trailer door and after a muffled, “Enter,” opened it.

“We’re here, sir,” he said as he stepped inside.

I entered, Lucas followed me, and the man who had been trailing us pulled the door closed behind him. I took the room in quickly, noting that it had nice engineered wood floors, what looked to be an authentic Persian rug, and a heavy-looking wood desk in one corner.

Individually, the pieces were nice, had class, and were undoubtedly expensive.

Together, it was tacky and overdone, and in this place, at this time, seemed even more ridiculous and frivolous than it would have otherwise.

But decor wasn’t important, and after taking the place in, I looked at the occupant of the desk.

Probably fifty, clean-shaven face, close-cut hair that glinted silver in the light.

Posture so straight that he didn’t touch the back of the chair, muscled physique, though I could see a little bit of softness developing around his midsection.

He looked me over with icy brown eyes. He had dismissed me, that much I could tell, then focused on Lucas.

“You made quite a mess out there,” he said.

“Not my intention,” Lucas responded.

“And what was your intention?” he said.

“To not end up here,” he said.

The man smiled, the expression surprisingly reaching his eyes.

“An honest answer. I appreciate that.”

Lucas nodded curtly, and the man’s smile dropped.

“Still, five of my men,” he said.

“Not much I can do about that,” Lucas said.

“That’s where you’re wrong. I won’t bore you with details of what I have going on, but it needs labor. You look like a sturdy fellow,” the man said, looking Lucas up and down, “and I know you have skills. Those men you took out were trained well.”

“So what are you saying?”

“I’m saying you owe me, and I’m going to collect,” the man said.

“And if I refuse?” Lucas asked.

“You won’t,” he said, letting his gaze linger on the cuffs and then looking to a gun that sat on top of his desk.

“Well, what about you?” He shifted his gaze to me.

“What about me?” I said, voice a pitch higher than it usually was.

“You are part of this, too,” he said.

“No. I didn’t kill anyone,” I lied.

“Still. You were there. You don’t look like you can do as much damage as him. So how are you going to repay your debt?”

“I…” I trailed off, not sure what to say.

“What did you do? Before, I mean,” he said, before I could answer.

“Medical administration,” I answered.

This lie rolled off my tongue effortlessly, almost without thought, and I was glad for it. I sensed the danger here, and my gut told me that if he knew my real profession, whatever he thought I owed would involve me staying here indefinitely.

And that wasn’t an option.

“Another who sits on her ass all day and types on a computer. Nearly fucking useless,” he said, voice not changing, but his eyes filled with disdain.

I didn’t say anything, didn’t contradict him, and certainly didn’t try to defend myself.

It wouldn’t get me anywhere.

Not with him.

“Well, there’s always shit to be cleaned and cooked around here. You’ll do that,” he said.

“For how long?” I asked.

“Well, your friend—he is your friend, right?” the man asked.

“Just somebody I’m traveling with.”

“How did that happen?”

“We fell in together. He helped me out of a tight spot,” I said, realizing that was the most truth I had spoken since I had been in this room, but also one that didn’t give away everything.

“Yeah, strange times, strange bedfellows, I guess,” he said. “Anyway,” he continued after a moment, “five men. Five months.”

“You want us to stay here for five months?”

“No, you’re going to stay here for five months. Could make it five years, but I don’t think right now is the time for a five-year plan kind of scenario,” he said.

If I had my way, we wouldn’t stay here five more minutes, but I didn’t, so instead I nodded my acquiescence.

“And you?”

“Five months,” Lucas said, his voice rough, but his agreement clear.

“I’m glad we could work this out so amicably,” he said.

“What now, sir?”

“Get them out of here and put them to work.”

The man leaned back, though I wouldn’t say he relaxed. He held my gaze for a moment, not very long, but long enough to unnerve me.

Something was off here.

Way off.

The sooner we got out, the better off we would be.